Castrovalva
by whitefire
Summary: Adric's experiences right after the 5th Doctor's regeneration.
1. Chapter 1

Castrovalva

"Let me go!" Adric shouted at the human officers dragging him back towards the radio dish. "The Doctor!"

"Once we retrieve him, he will be looked after."

Adric heard the noise of a TARDIS dematerializing. For a fleeting moment, he thought the Doctor was abandoning him. He turned his head to the noise, letting the guard pull him forward. The Doctor's TARDIS was still behind him. Then he saw the Corinthian column behind him, so out of place in this 20th century Earth landscape.

The Master!

Adric was thrown to the ground as he felt a stab of electricity crashing up his body. He cried out in pain. The others had fallen with him, unconscious. Only his cries sounded across the field.

"Nyssa… Tegan!"

"Be silent, boy," the words cut through him.

Looking up, he saw the murderer. The man took his arm. He was so weak, he could only protest as he was dragged into the other TARDIS.

A hand was at his back, helping him to stand on the metal grating beneath his feet. It guided his hands against a surface like a guardrail. Another hand found the back of his neck. Something cold and wet spilled down his shirt, writhing. Adric shuttered. Cold, probing tendrils found their way across his shoulders, down his spine. He tried to lift his arms to fight, but his hands only gripped the guardrail tighter. He heard laughter, cruel and high. Suddenly, Adric knew nothing but pain. The many tendrils pierced his back as stronger tendrils curled down his arms.

"My creature is penetrating your spine and brain, now."

The words drifted in through the cocoon of pain. He felt the creature's probing ebb, lightening on his skin. Something was pressing against his mind, brushing against his thoughts. Adric flinched, and the creature settled into place.

A buzzing began in his head. It was a stream of numbers. He recognized them from somewhere. His brain caught the rhythm as the noise became louder, unbearable.

"Stop!" he cried out.

More information, more numbers, louder and faster. Used like a machine, his brain willingly continued the rhythm as his mind protested. When it finished, Adric heard the laughter again.

It took him several moments to compose himself before he realized the formulas' purpose.

"Block Transfer… The TARDIS! I've betrayed them!"

"Mm, that's right, my boy. Your own image has flung the TARDIS to Event One: it's death!"

"Doctor!"

"We shall watch his destruction."

"I'll fight you!"

Adric closed his eyes, summoning up the numbers again, another Block Transfer Computation, another Adric. More laughter echoed into his thoughts.

"Is that all you can do? Run off and tell on me? The Doctor is helpless and so are your petty little friends!"

"Now they know! They can stop you."

"They don't know how to operate the TARDIS. Now, show me the terminal room," the Master ordered.

The numbers crept into his thoughts again, unbidden. The image of the TARDIS's control room appeared on the Master's screen. A wild fear overcame Adric. He wanted to hide from his shipmates, hide from the look of horror mirrored on their faces, hide from the terminal blinking the words "Hydrogen Inrush."

Shame darkened his vision, yet the numbers continued. Nyssa flipped the control switch, and the image of the terminal room faded, replaced by the TARDIS in a field of stars. Adric welcomed the dehumanization of their troubles, but he knew it was only a mask to the pain he would cause.

"Now, show me their destruction!"

"No!"

The screen faded to static, as Adric fought against the Master's control. The thing on his back twitched as the Master concentrated his telepathic energy.

"Show me, show me, Adric!"

The glittered remains of the TARDIS exploded across the screen. Adric hung his head.

"We've done it, boy!"

The Master approached Adric. "You've done it, my boy. Now, do you see what we can accomplish? Join me, Adric, and I promise I won't have to hurt you."

Adric remained still, unresponsive to the Master.

_Join me, Adric_, his voice whispered in his mind.

"I… I will help you. Just don't hurt me again, please."

The Master smiled and turned back to his control panel. Adric found he could stand on his own again, and he removed his hands from the bar. The winding tendrils around his arms tightened, reaching further down.

"Get this thing off me!" Adric demanded.

"Shut your mouth you whining brat!"

Adric glared down at the Master. He attempted to pick the tendril off his right arm, when pain jolted his left wrist. He flipped his hand over; the tendril had pierced his skin and vein. Another jolt, and his right wrist was the same.

"You said you wouldn't hurt me!"

"Dig deep, my pet," the Master whispered.

A wave of dizziness and confusion sent Adric to his knees.

"My creature has sedated you. It will relieve some pain and render you a little more willing."

"But I said I would help…"

"I'm not a fool! My creature tells me you are hiding something from me. Show it to me!"

Adric was no longer in control. He felt the cold metal grate against his face, knew he was on the floor, but no amount of effort could raise him to his feet. It burned through his mind; it knew every thought. It saw the TARDIS, undestroyed.

Adric wanted to close his eyes when he saw the TARDIS on the Master's view screen. Yet even that act of cowardice was beyond him. The Master reached out a hand to him, petting the creature wrapped around his body. It forced its feelings of enjoyment upon him. Adric grunted in protest.

"Take them, my pet, take them to Castrovalva. Let the good Doctor find his rest."

The laughter gave way to the numbers, and Adric closed his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

When Adric opened his eyes, he was alone; at least the Master had left. He tried to move, but the creature held him to the floor. He looked around the room before deciding to reach out his mind to the others.

He began the Block Transfer to write his image into the world, but the creature took control, twisting his words, tightening the trap.

"Tegan! It's not me, it's not me, don't listen. Run, please, just run."

"What were you trying to do, boy?"

"Master!"

"Keep on the task at hand. Focus, boy!"

"No more, please!"

"Stop fighting me!"

The Master grabbed Adric, lifting him to his feet. Adric felt so young, so alone at that moment.

"The survival of the Doctor depends on you now, Adric. Keep Castrovalva stable or it will collapse in on your friends. Complete the Transfer, my boy."

Adric glared at the Master. "No!"

"You arrogant little boy…"

The creature tightened at his wrists, another dose. He cried out, collapsing in the Master's hands.

"Keep him up," the Master ordered, stepping back.

Automatically, Adric's hands wrapped around the rail, keeping him standing. Adric gripped the rail tighter than the creature's force. He lifted his head to face the Master.

"I won't help you!"

The Master lazily flicked a switch on the control panel, and the screaming in Adric's head intensified. The Master left Adric again, alone with the creature feeding him the information from the computer.

Adric fought harder to twist the numbers. The creature knew, but could not pinpoint the subtle adjustments. It was Adric's intelligence after all that was running the programs. He heard raised voices, far off. Was that the Doctor?

"Please," he whispered.

"The tapestry, look!" He heard Nyssa cry. He set the last numbers in place.

"But Doctor, it's-"

"I know, I know," cried the Doctor, warning them off. "Stay back!"

Suddenly, blinding light overwhelmed him. Adric cringed, but the creature kept him upright.

"Here! This is your history, Castrovalva!"

The Doctor turned to meet the gaze of Adric.

"You're alive, Doctor!" Adric whispered before collapsing to the metal grating at his feet.

"Oh, what is this, my friend? A Telax mind tap? So that's how you're sustaining Castrovalva."

"My own adaptation for the block transfer computation. Since we last met, Adric's mathematical powers have been put to lively use."

"Deadly use, you mean."

The Master shrugged halfheartedly.

The Doctor stepped away from Adric, "Alright, Master, it's me you want. Let the boy go."

"It's for you this trap was created, yes, but this boy has shown himself to be quite useful to me."

"Not if he learns how to adjust your calculations, right Adric?"

"Pay him no mind, continue with the computations, boy!"

"Oh, I don't think so. Adric! Look at me."

Adric lifted his eyes to the Doctor.

He saw resolve and fury beneath the new blue eyes.

It startled Adric, and a blush of shame crept over his face, "Doctor, I'm sorry."

The Doctor's voice dropped, hardening in command. "Let go," he ordered.

Adric suddenly felt with his whole soul the desire for the creature to release him. The Doctor's will had intensified his own desire for freedom. He felt a heaviness in his heart and he cried out, for the creature still held on.

Adric inhaled sharply. Looking up, he whispered, "Doctor, it won't let me go. I'm sorry. I'm collapsing Castrovalva. Get out of here."

He switched the last numbers. He would die with Castrovalva, folded up in its space. But another man rushed forward, breaking the barrier between the two worlds. The man took hold of the creature and tore it away.

"You gave us freedom of mind, and I return the favor, my creator."

"No!" Adric shouted.

The creature lashed itself around the man, strangling him. Adric felt himself free to move again, and he bent to help the man, but he was pushed back through the portal, into the world of his creation.

"Leave him, Nyssa, he's already dead. Castrovalva is no more, we must escape," cried the Doctor.

"Take us out of here," he turned to Mergreave as the Master thrust himself towards his TARDIS.

Cries of panic surrounded them, people pressed on them at all sides in a confused mess of bodies. The Doctor grabbed Nyssa's hand, who held Tegan and Adric in turn. They stumbled through a passageway, but it warped back into itself. Tegan closed her eyes, dizzied by the unnatural dimensions.

"He doesn't know where he's going!" Nyssa cried, "We'll be stuck here."

"Adric, space is folding in on itself. You know the dimensions, the reality here. Can you lead us out?"

"I, I can see the way."

Adric pulled them through the passageway, forward, but climbing back. It made sense to him, the reality folding in on itself. He heard the Master's cry behind him, calling to him for help. But he was no longer attached to the machine keeping the world stable.

"The Master," he whispered to the Doctor.

A hand lunged towards them through the mass of flesh and buildings. The Mergreave turned and grasped the hand as though to pull it forward. Adric felt a rush of panic, but the Mergreave turned away from them and dove back into the collapsing reality. They found the edge, and Adric pushed the others through. He lingered for an instant, sensing the Master's mind brush his own.

"Save me, Adric," it whispered.

A hand closed around his shirt, pulling him forward into the sunlight. The Doctor stood over him as he fell to the dirt. Adric glanced up at the Doctor. A weird sense of sadness pervaded his eyes, a new expression on a new face. There was a greater sense of the weight of the universe in those younger eyes. But Adric could see there was a more personal sense of loss. Was it the Master for whom the Doctor now mourned? As the reality folded in upon itself entirely, Adric felt another brush against his mind.

"Doctor," was all it whispered.

And the Doctor turned away.


End file.
